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Teams & Riders The Great Big Cycling Transfers, Extensions, and Rumours Thread

Page 396 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Vaughters
Congrats to Stites on getting a European contract.

So far, it would be unreasonable to suggest that he was ready for the WT.

He is a bit of a fraud really with a talent for self promotion and false pretences of EF being a small renegade team trying to mix it with the big boys.
Getting American talent is difficult when your budget is substantially less than Inoes.

As far as Vaughters, I don't see a lot of tweets on X in recent years, let alone self-promotion. (Not sure what you are referring to)
 
Congrats to Stites on getting a European contract.

So far, it would be unreasonable to suggest that he was ready for the WT.


Getting American talent is difficult when your budget is substantially less than Inoes.

As far as Vaughters, I don't see a lot of tweets on X in recent years, let alone self-promotion. (Not sure what you are referring to)
It will take a lot of tail-tucked-between-the-legs to erase the decade of shameless hypocrisy and self-promotion that preceded it though.

He just has adjusted his stance to recognise a few things:
1) far fewer people are buying his snake oil anymore so he has to sell it in different ways (he used to have a huge number of acolytes across cycling discussion boards back in the early days of the team and in the era between Lance's Comeback 2.0 and the Reasoned Decision, who would take his word as gospel and believe him to be some benevolent sage who only wanted what was best for the sport, which coincidentally would always coincide with what was best for him);
2) he doesn't have to push the "cycling is clean now, especially my team even though it has lots of dopers in it" narrative anything like as aggressively now the péloton is not filled with Bassos and Valverdes whose dirty laundry is already public knowledge front and centre;
3) his "I would quit the sport if any of my riders ever tested positive" narrative that he pushed so aggressively would come back to bite him if he kept pushing it when his riders are about the only ones still testing positive - even if usually for stuff they've done before he's signed them.

He has also managed somehow - and this is something that is genuinely impressive, no joke - to maintain overall control of the team through a minimum of two mergers of WT level teams despite his team being the smaller of the two in both mergers (with Cervélo and with Liquigas-Cannondale), as well as killing another ProConti team (Drapac) by persuading its sponsors to drop them mid-season to join his team and bail his squad out.

However, he also, in the Cervélo merger, acquired the strongest and most successful women's team in the world, and promptly dismantled it within a year so that he could steal its funds and use them to sign Thomas Dekker off of a doping ban, outed his own riders as dopers on social media (including on this very forum) and then tried to paint himself as a progressive visionary of the future for women's cycling because the UCI halted the growth of his beloved Hammer Series, because he has aggressively pushed any and all changes that lock the top division off and hand guarantees to teams, because he grew his team from the lower divisions to reach the top tier, and he's terrified that if anybody else is allowed to do that, his team might be the one that gets pushed out, so he wants to gatekeep the top division.

There are nevertheless a fair few good things that Jonathan Vaughters has done for cycling, but the amount of bad things he's done, plus his smug, sanctimonious attitude about those good things he's done, mean that a lot of people have a hard time really buying the image of Vaughters that he likes to project, as some benevolent force for good in the sport.

Stites has had two good seasons at the Conti level where he's won or podiumed some decent races and while he will need to improve to show he's WT material, he's definitely earned a ProConti team run-out. I wish him all the best with the opportunity. Caja Rural have a decent but unspectacular track record for development, given he's 26 already time will tell, but he's been successful across enough places over a couple of seasons for me to hope that he won't be a Danilo Celano.
 
Congrats to Stites on getting a European contract.

So far, it would be unreasonable to suggest that he was ready for the WT.


Getting American talent is difficult when your budget is substantially less than Inoes.

As far as Vaughters, I don't see a lot of tweets on X in recent years, let alone self-promotion. (Not sure what you are referring to)
Watch him any time he appears on Eurosport/Discovery+ in the studio. Then you will understand.
 
Taaramae joins Kinan for the 2025 season.
looking forward to see him on the Asia Tour! Here's a bit about it from his Instagram:

"After 17 years in the Champions League @Worldtour , it’s time for me to say « au revoir. » I feel, level here is too high for me and my body getting weaker with age, I have been following the same program for too long. It’s no longer interesting, and I don’t feel excited about this game anymore. I still love cycling, and quitting completely is not an option. I am still young enough to enjoy cycling for a few more years. I have been dreaming about the asian tour for several years now—a different racing program, new strategies, diverse cultures, and new goals. Thinking about it excites me again. So, it’s time to explore and find new motivation in a different environment, enjoy cycling life 100%…. Thank you for welcoming my Japanese 🇯🇵@kinanracingteam ❤️❤️❤️

I’ve had a wonderful 17-year career in the WT. I’ve won some races and lost most of them, participated in all kinds of events, and met many people along the way. I’ve seen different teams and eras. I am happy to move on with a smile and contentment. Thank you to everyone I’ve met and to all the teams I’ve been a part of. Good luck to everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I am deeply thankful. Let the new adventure begin in 2025!"


Let's see if de Gendt gets on board as well.
 
looking forward to see him on the Asia Tour! Here's a bit about it from his Instagram:

"After 17 years in the Champions League @Worldtour , it’s time for me to say « au revoir. » I feel, level here is too high for me and my body getting weaker with age, I have been following the same program for too long. It’s no longer interesting, and I don’t feel excited about this game anymore. I still love cycling, and quitting completely is not an option. I am still young enough to enjoy cycling for a few more years. I have been dreaming about the asian tour for several years now—a different racing program, new strategies, diverse cultures, and new goals. Thinking about it excites me again. So, it’s time to explore and find new motivation in a different environment, enjoy cycling life 100%…. Thank you for welcoming my Japanese 🇯🇵@kinanracingteam ❤️❤️❤️

I’ve had a wonderful 17-year career in the WT. I’ve won some races and lost most of them, participated in all kinds of events, and met many people along the way. I’ve seen different teams and eras. I am happy to move on with a smile and contentment. Thank you to everyone I’ve met and to all the teams I’ve been a part of. Good luck to everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I am deeply thankful. Let the new adventure begin in 2025!"


Let's see if de Gendt gets on board as well.

Fair enough. He never reached the peaks that were promised from his incredible first couple of years.
 
If there's actually a release clause of only 25000 dollars Lotto has nothing to say (and they honestly shouldve never signed him in the first place imo if that kind of release clause was needed).

Also like I said, Bora was talking to Widar (or his agents) before Avenir, so before it went wrong, and before the tantrum. Of course it could be that something already was going on behind the scenes (haven't heard anything but could be) but this sounds more like Widar complaining in the press on purpose so people won't blame him for leaving.

Also what sponsors? :sweatsmile:
Are there any news regarding RedBull and Widar? I find it very interesting where all those talents land in the end.
 
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Aaron Gate gets his shot in the WT (Astana)

 
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Staune-Mittet to AG2R.
This is a surprise to me, as his contract ran out 2026 with Visma. Not had a good season, but it's not been a complete car crash so I'm surprise Visma is giving up on him already. I'm always a bit "meh" about foreign riders chosing French teams, probably I have bought into the view that French teams are a bit old fashion and behind on many things, but Ag2r have been good this year.

One can also say that this maybe was a missed opportunity for Uno-X, but there have been quite a few negative comments from Staune-Mittet and his father towards Uno-X ever since he decided to go with Jumbo.
 
With Laurance Ineos now have 29 riders, so I assume they are full with Castrillo being announced soon.
They are down to only 7 British riders. The lowest number ever?
Not that they're always clued up, but the most recent Watts Occurring episode, G and Rowe were talking about how he had been linked to the team but had not actually put pen to paper and perhaps the team would regret that. I guess we will need to wait and see, otherwise there could be a good opportunity for another team to nip in
 
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Not that they're always clued up, but the most recent Watts Occurring episode, G and Rowe were talking about how he had been linked to the team but had not actually put pen to paper and perhaps the team would regret that. I guess we will need to wait and see, otherwise there could be a good opportunity for another team to nip in
https://www.marca.com/ciclismo/2024/09/02/66d5906ae2704e1d4a8b459e.html Marca confirm there are now a few teams in the Castrillo sweepstakes
 
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https://www.marca.com/ciclismo/2024/09/02/66d5906ae2704e1d4a8b459e.html Marca confirm there are now a few teams in the Castrillo sweepstakes
Not that they're always clued up, but the most recent Watts Occurring episode, G and Rowe were talking about how he had been linked to the team but had not actually put pen to paper and perhaps the team would regret that. I guess we will need to wait and see, otherwise there could be a good opportunity for another team to nip in
Movistar is looking to sign him. The next Luis Leon?

View: https://x.com/Biarnes72/status/1830562513005539379?t=2CQwpjdHakiUe765-26CVw&s=19